Wednesday 5 July 2023, 8pm
Unpredictable Series presents an evening of free improvisation, with pioneers Alterations and a first-time constellation of Naima Karlsson, Adriana Camacho and Blanca Regina.
Alterations - David Toop, Peter Cusack, Terry Day, and Steve Beresford - is a quartet of key thinkers and pioneers in music and visual arts. They played numerous concerts in the years 1977 to 1986 and came back together in 2015 to play in London for the Alterations Festival at Cafe OTO, curated by Unpredictable Series
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ALTERATIONS
The group existed from 1977 to 1986 and played often in festivals and clubs throughout the UK and Europe. Their work presented new ways of making and understanding music and art.
“The great discovery of Alterations was that musical styles and idioms are there to be played with.” – Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen
They made three LPs in that time:
Alterations on Bead in 1978
Up Your Sleeve on !Quartz in 1980
My Favourite Animals on nato (France) in 1984
In addition, there were CDs of various live performances.
In 2000, Intuitive Records in Denmark issued Alterations Live and in 2002 Atavistic in the US published Voila Enough!
In 2015, Alterations was put back together for London performances at Cafe OTO (with Max Eastley) and Iklectik. These events were very successful and attracted new audiences. Alterations Boxset a compilation of unreleased material was presented at this festival and, later in 2017, a live record from the concert at Cafe OTO, Void Transactions. A reissue of Up Your Sleeve was presented in 2022 by Paradigm Disks.
b.1974, Mexico City
Since 2007 Adriana Camacho has been active in the Mexican free jazz and improvisation scene. She played in Jazzorca, Museo de Arte Moderno, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Chalton Gallery, London, Knulp Bar, Museo Ugo Cara in Trieste, Italy, Resist! Festival Viena, Austria, Pabellón .02 Vienna, Italy among other venues.
Adriana has collaborated, recorded, and played with musicians, improvisers, plastic artists, and poets such as Anne Waldman, Ana Ruíz, Elliott Levin, Germán Bringas, Phillip Greenlief, Naima Karlsson, Daniel Carter, Federico Ughi, Antonio Gritón, Aram Shelton, Chefa Alonso among other artists.
She plays contrabass in several bands, such as Cihuatl, No tal Cuerdas, Sesión Libre Trío, David Contreras Trío, Cataratas del Niágara, Ronronoise, Ensemble Kóryma and her solo project Loope. She often likes to edit experimental videos and books of the music she does, the Loope with Anne Waldman and Zazil Collins flipbook, and videos she publishes on YouTube and her website.
https://www.adrianacamacho.com/
Naima Karlsson (b. 1982) is a multi-disciplinary artist and musician based in London. Her practice interweaves sonic and visual forms led by interests in repetition, improvisation, and the abstract relationships between language, symbol, image, and sound. Naima’s main instrument is the piano, as well as percussion, vibraphone, and organ. Improvisation is at the core of the artist's musical process, combined with minimalist uses of tone, arrangement, and an inherently organic approach to playing. Naima is part of the duo Exotic Sin with Kenichi Iwasa, and she is an archivist and coordinator for the Estate of Moki Cherry and Cherry Archive. She is currently presenting Moki Cherry: Here and Now at ICA London (Wed 31 May – Sun 3 September 2023)
Blanca Regina is an interdisciplinary artist, tutor, and independent curator who works with spontaneous composition systems creating multimedia landscapes using voice, objects, electronics, and visuals. She is also looking at book arts, immersive media, and design. She has produced three albums with Beresford, mixed and mastered by Dave Hunt in London, ‘What Blue’ (2020) Duets with Steve Beresford; ‘Duets with Blanca Regina, Spontaneous Music’ featuring duets with Leafcutter John, Jack Goldstein, John Butcher, Benedict Taylor, Matthias Kispert, Aneek Thapar, Steve Beresford, Sharon Gal, and Hyelim Kim; ‘Art of Improvisers’ (2017) a collection album with several artists concentrating in women improvisers. With longtime collaborator and artist Leafcutter John capturing their live performances in 2017 they created ‘Miga’ a limited edition Pendrive and digital release. Other collaborations include with Matthias Kispert, DFuse, Peter Cusack, Matt Black, Wade Matthews, Terry Day, Adriana Camacho, and David Toop.
